Process of preparing flax.



UNITE ES ATENT curios.

GEORGE H. CAMPBELL, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

PROCESS OF PRETARING FLAX.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE H. CAMPBELL, a citizen of Canada, and a resident of Toronto, in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Preparing Flax, of which the following is a'specification.

This invention relates to the preparation of flax for the various purposes of the textile industry, and has in View a quicker and more economical treatment, and which will produce a greater yield than previously existing processes, all as now will be explained, reference being had to the following specification' and claims. In carrying out this operation, flax stalks or straw in a dry state, are passed through a breaking machine, which removes the larger portion of the various incrusting matters or shives, the diminution in Weight of the straw treated being about forty-five per cent. of the total original weight. 7

To render the stalks sufficiently dry they may either b air-dried or dried by the application of heat, the stalks being for this purpose placed on suitable shelves or frames, below which areplaced pipes through which passes hot water or steam, heated to a moderate temperature. After the stalks have been passed through the breaking machine, which may be of any ordinary and well-known kind, they will still contain a considerable proportion of broken stalks into yarn or cloth the ma-- terial progressively loses" a certain .amount of adhering incrusting material or shives, but not all.

To make a more complete removal of ,the shives, the 'fiber', after any of the above'me- 'chanical treatments, has to be subjected to a process of retting. There are three classes of retting processes used, namely: field retting or dew rotting, water rettingand Specification-of Iietters Patent.

In each of these,- various operations,- tending to convert the chemical retting. The retting process that will now be described belongs to the last one or more chemicals.

By breaking the flax before retting it beretting, owing to the readiness with which solutions containing chemical agents come in contact with every portion of the gummy, ligneous and other incrusting matter at tached to the fiber. Especially is such the case if the solutions are used hotor'boiling. Even boiling waterwill have a marked effect in removing or loosening the various matters attached to the fiber. The operation of rotting and bleaching may also for some purposes be combined in one operation, a suitable chemical such as sodium peroxid being used for the purpose. The chemicalsto be .used for the purpose of retting are a mixture offatty acid soap and rosin soap. To make the fiber less harsh, an emulsion of an oil, volatile or fatty, or of a fatty acid, such as kerosene, paraflin, rosin oil, turps,

may be cold, the chemical ,action d'esiredjma y be hastenethby theus e of pressure, hydrostatic on pneumatic]. When-rosin soap is, used'e'ther alone or .with another chemical or, wit an emulsifypared at the place where-itis to be used, by simply dissolving caustic "soda in water and 'addingthereto the requisite amount of rosin to form a translucent paste when hot.

ished the flax is washed, dried and subjected .to suitable mechanical manipulation to re- Patented Feb. 3, '19 M. Application filed March 11, 1910. Serial No. 548,701. 7

principally the alkaline carbonates, bicarbonates, ammon1a and a soap' of one or more I fatty acids, of colophony, or pine rosin, or

cotton or linseed oil, 'or red oil, which is the ours andv cal. ,When the pperation is carriedon in'the ing oil or fatty acid,,it is'preferably pre-' After the rotting operation has been finl move the loosened shive material. For this class, or retting by means of a solution of comes particularly well adapted to chemical When flax: material are r purpose the flax may be passed through a suitable breaking machine, preferably one having much finer grooves or teeth than was used in the original. breaking of the unretted flax stalks. In place of removing the shive material loosened through the operation of letting, by passing the retted flax through a breaking machine, as stated, this loosened material may also be removed by means of scutching or beating machines, or by means of manual shive removing operations.

I The fact that the retting period is shortened has also the advantage of a ver considerable increase in the yield of .iiax over ordinary processes Where chemical retting is used as one of the important steps, as Well as an increase in tensile strength.

The chemical solutions described may also be used successively in place of simultaneously or alternatively. Thus. the flax material maybe treated with an emulsion firstl and a peroxid solution afterward.

.lVhen an emulsion is used, it is preferable to prepare it as needed by means of any of the ordinary emulsifying machine-s new in use.

What I claim as new is:

1. In the art of preparing linen fibers, the

ose am improvement which consists in drying and breaking. {lax stalks, anol 'subjecting the broken material to the aetionioii an aqueous liquid under pressuremtfordinary temperature, i v i 3: In the art of preparing linen fibers, the

,imprbvenient which consists in drying and breaking flax stalks and subjecting the broken materi al to the action of an aqueous eniulsion'of soap and oil.

41' in the art of preparing linen. fibers, the

improvement which consists in drying and breaking flax stalks and sub ecting. the

broken material to the action of an aqueous emulsion of rosin soap and an oil.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of N. Y., this 18th dav of May, A. D. 1909.

GEORGE H. CAMPBELL Witnesses:

C. A, 0. Bastien, lilnnnniin A. DAVIS. 

